Israel’s National Road Safety Authority released a policy paper during Road Safety Week, November 1-5, 2026, calling for more 30 km/h zones and street designs that make drivers slow down.
Israel recorded 341 road deaths in the first nine months of 2026, down 3.1% from the same period last year but 18% above the average for those months in 2022-2024, according to the Central Bureau of Statistics.
Hebrew-language reporting and the National Road Safety Authority’s plans point to three places to start: redesigning streets where pedestrians are exposed, enforcing speed limits along dangerous stretches of road and upgrading highways where a driver can veer into oncoming traffic.
The first opportunity is inside cities. About 60% of serious crashes over the past decade occurred on urban roads, according to the road safety authority. As the Hebrew automotive outlet Auto reported on Thursday, the authority is proposing more 30 km/h zones, along with speed humps, raised crosswalks and roundabouts.
Near schools, municipalities could shorten crossing distances, install pedestrian refuge islands and adjust traffic signals. These changes slow drivers where they are most likely to encounter children, pedestrians and cyclists.
On intercity roads, enforcement could cover a whole stretch of highway. The authority’s plan proposes about 250 cameras that measure average speed over a section of road, reducing the incentive to brake at a single camera and speed up again. The same plan calls for improvements on undivided roads to reduce the risk of head-on crashes and keep vehicles from drifting out of their lanes. The authority estimates that intercity roads account for about 55% of fatal crashes nationwide.
Israel could also change what it teaches new drivers. The authority proposes adding hazard recognition to driving lessons and moving refresher courses into the first two years after licensing, from the current five-year mark. That would give new drivers an earlier chance to practice spotting a developing hazard before they have to react to it.
Funding will determine how much of the plan reaches the road. The authority’s "Safe City" program announced NIS 120 million for its first 13 participating municipalities. Separately, Calcalist reported that only NIS 50 million of the NIS 350 million promised for the national road safety effort was approved in its first phase. A practical test is whether authorities can show which crossings and highway stretches they fixed, whether speeds fell there and whether fewer people were killed or seriously injured.